Marja-Liisa Helasvuo

Searching for Words: Syntactic and Sequential Construction of Word Search in Conversations of Finnish Speakers With Aphasia

In this article, we examine how word search sequences are constructed over time in terms of syntax and interaction, concentrating on searches for lexical elements. The data comes from conversations of aphasic speakers of Finnish that were recorded at speech therapy sessions and at home. These speakers have the fluent type of aphasia, being capable of producing complex utterances but with difficulty in finding content words and using many phonologically distorted words in their speech. The syntax of the word search sequences in fluent aphasia is often quite fragmented. The speaker starts with one syntactic construction, but when she or he is unable to find an appropriate word, the construction is left incomplete and a new one is begun. However, there are certain linguistic expressions that recur in search sequences, such as the pronominal premodifier of a noun phrase (NP) construction (se [the], tuo [that], tama [this]), the beginning of a characterizing clause (se on semmonen [it is a kind of]), a locative construction (siella on [there is]) and the question format (mika se on [what is it]). These constructions serve to indicate and hold a place for the missing word, often a head noun. In addition, these constructions are often accompanied by gestures that may contain iconic features characterizing the referent of the word search. Thus, speakers with fluent aphasia make use of their syntactic knowledge and gestural abilities to overcome word-finding difficulties. The sequential context of the utterance that contains the word search may vary. For example, in topic-initial positions, there is less contextual support from the preceding conversation. Furthermore, the extent to which the participants have shared knowledge of what is being talked about may vary as well as the access of the recipient to what the aphasic speaker is talking about. In the course of the incremental construction of the search, the aphasic speakers frequently offer a space for the recipient to display understanding of the talk thus far or to help, and the responses by the recipient or their absence have an impact on the developing conversation.

Grammatical structuring in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia in Finnish

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the linguistic problems of aphasic speakers of Finnish. The focus is on Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. First, we present an overview of the special characteristics of the grammar of Finnish. Secondly, there is a discussion of previous studies on aphasic speakers of Finnish. Thirdly, we present an analysis of our data from conversation and picture description task by speakers with Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. The analysis focuses on case marking, subject-verb agreement, word order and the expression of tense in the speech of Finnish aphasics. As a whole, many linguistic features are preserved both in Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. Even the neologistic words in Wernickes aphasia are appropriately inflected. However, our findings suggest that aphasic errors are not always systematic and furthermore, they may be context-dependent. For example, Brocas aphasics produced case marking and agreement patterns in some contexts correctly, whereas in some other contexts they were produced erroneously. The word order patterns were similar to those found in conversational discourse in general. However, it is sometimes impossible to give a definitive analysis of the word order or structure of a given grammatical construction. This is due to the fact that sentence structure is sometimes badly distorted both in Brocas and Wernickes aphasic cases because of difficulty in finding lexical content words. We conclude with a comparison of our findings with previous studies of Finnish aphasics, proposing some methodological implications for further studies.

Choosing between zero and pronominal subject: modeling subject expression in the 1st person singular in Finnish conversation

Abstract The variability of subject expression has been extensively investigated across languages. We present a large-scale multivariate statistical analysis of the choice of subject expression in the 1st person singular in spontaneous Finnish conversation, with a focus on the choice between pronominal and zero subject. Spoken Finnish represents an interesting case, as the dominant type of subject expression is double marking, i. e. the combination of a pronominal subject marker (subject pronoun) and a verbal subject marker (person marking). Siewierska (1999, From anaphoric pronoun to grammatical agreement marker: Why objects don’t make it. Folia Linguistica 33(2). 225–251) notes that this type of marking is typologically rare. Our findings indicate that the choice of subject expression is affected by both constructional and cognitive/discourse factors, and that an important role in the choice of subject expression is played by the sequential structure of the conversation.